Railway vehicles



2 Sheets$heet 1 Filed Sept. 1, 1964 4 Wav ATTORNEY July 26, 1966 A. J. HIRST 3,262,693

RAILWAY VEHICLES Filed Sept, 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOE ATTOQNEY United States Patent 3,262,693 RAILWAY VEHICLES Archie John Hirst, Leicester, England, assignor to Metaiastik Limited, Leicester, England, a British compan Filed Sept. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 393,577 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 2, 1963, 34,525/63 7 Claims. (Cl. 267-3) The present invention relates to railway vehicles of the type wherein the weight of the vehicle body is carried by side bearers interposed directly between the vehicle body and a wheel carrying frame of the vehicle, e.g., a bogie frame.

The present invention is concerned with a modification of the invention (hereinafter referred to as the main invention) described in US. Patent No. 3,045,998.

According to the main inventionthere is provided a side bearer assembly for a railway vehicle for supporting the body of the vehicle from a wheelcarry-ing frame thereof, the assembly comprising a rubber bloc-k which in use of the assembly acts mainly in compression to support the body from the wheel-carrying frame and which accommodates horizontal movements of the body relatively to the wheel-carrying frame mainly by shear deformation so that such movements are readily permitted, and connected with the block at one end of the block a frusto-conical rubber ring which in use of the assembly acts in combined shear and compression to support the body from the wheel-carrying frame, said frustoconical rubber ring permitting vertical movement of the body relatively to the wheel-carrying frame, the rubber block lying at least in part within the frusto-conical rubber ring.

The relative horizontal movements permitted by a side bearer assembly as just defined are required to accommodate pivoting of the bogie relative to the vehicle body when negotiating curves in the track and also to permit transverse shock loads to be absorbed.

These movements are accommodated mainly by the rubber block. The frusto-conical rubber ring provides for the vertical springing of the vehicle body on the wheel carrying frame.

Using a side bearer assembly as described above it has been found that for high vertical loading the side bearer may have insufficient transverse stability. The object of the present invention is to provide a modification of a side bearer assembly according to the main invention in which the transverse stability at high vertical loading is increased.

A further object of the present invention is to increase the vertical flexibility of the side bearer assembly so as to improve its riding characteristics at high speed.

A still further object of the present invention is to reduce the over all diameter of the assembly whilst increasing the vertical flexibility.

Specific embodiments of the present invention -will now be described merely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively end views of parts of railway vehicles according to the present invention and each showing a pair of side bearer assemblies according to the invention.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the vehicle comprises a body 5 and a wheel carrying frame or bogie generally indicated at 6. The bogie has sole bars 7 and a pair of transoms one of which is indicated at 8. A body bolster of the under frame of the vehicle body is indicated at 9. The body bolster has a depending column 10 connected to the bogie transom by any known or convenient form of traction linkage 13 for transmitting the longitudinal traction and braking forces between the body and the bogie.

3,262,693 Patented July 26, 1%66 ice A side bearer assembly, generally indicated at 11, is provided towards each side of the vehicle to support the body 5 from the bogie 6.

The side bearer assemblies are interposed between the side frame members 12 of the under frame and the sole bars 7.

Each side bearer assembly comprises a rubber compression spring block formed in two parts generally indicated at 14 and 15 and which, for the sake of convenience, will hereinafter, in this specific description, each be termed a rubber compression spring block. Between the rubber compression spring blocks is arranged a pair of frusto-conical rubber rings 16, 17. The rings 16, 17 have outer, annular metal members 18 and inner metal members in the form of cups 211, the walls of the cups, and the members 18 being bonded to the rubber and each ring having one annular metal interleaf 21.

The rings 16, 17 are disposed back to back with the outer member 18 of the lower ring supporting the outer member 18 of the upper ring the rings being fixed together in any convenient fashion.

The block 15 has its lower end plate fixed to the sole bar 7 and at its upper end plate is fixed to the bottom of the cup 20 of the ring 17 this cup being inverted. The block 15 lies wholly within the ring 17 and therefore within the inverted cup 20.

The block 14 is similarly arranged within and fixed to the bottom of the cup 20 of the upper ring 16, the cup of this ring being in an upright position as shown. The block 1 supports the side frame member 12 at its upper end, the upper end plate of the block being fixed to the member 12. At its lower end the block 14 is supported by the ring 16 which is in turn supported by the ring 17. The ring 17 is supported at the upper end of the block 15 which is in turn supported by the sole bar 7. The blocks 14, 15 each have one interleaf 24, the blocks 14, 15 and the rings 16, 17 being of the same dimensions and all being co-axially arranged with their common axis extending vertically as shown.

The rings 16, 17 together define, with the bottoms of the cups 20 a space 26 which is sealed so as to constitute a pneumatic chamber. The blocks 14, 15 each have a central hole 28. The hole 28 in the block 15 is blanked off as at 29. The hole 28 in the upper block communicates the space 26 with an air reservoir (not shown) carried by the under frame 9, which also supports pipe work for connecting the reservoir with a source of com-pressed air, e.g. a separate compressed air receiver carried by the body underframe which receiver is connected so as to be replenished through a non-return valve from the vehicle compressed air braking system when the pressure of air in that system exceeds a minimum safe value. In addition, any known or convenient levelling means may be employed in conjunction with the pneumatic suspension. By confining the pneumatic system to the body of the vehicle it does not have to be disturbed when the body is lifted from the bogie. The need for fiexible connections in the pneumatic system between the body and the bogie is also dispensed with.

The transverse stability of the side bearer assemblies may be enhanced by interconnecting the pairs of members 18 with a rigid, transverse plank. This is shown in FIG. 2 where the same reference numerals are used to indicate parts corresponding with parts already described with reference to FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the transverse plank is generally indicated at 30. The plank is of hollow construction and is divided into two compartments 31 and 32 communicating respectively With the air spaces 26 of the two side bearer assemblies 11 and 12 through apertures 34. The compartments 31 and 32 are sealed so as to constitute the air reservoirs. A separate reservoir is provided for each side bearer assembly so that the pneumatic springing on each side acts independently and is able to resist rolling of the body on the bogie as well as vertical deflection of the body on the bogie.

The remainder of the pneumatic systems in the FIG. 2 construction are carried by the body as before and the spaces 26 communicate with a source of air under pressure through the holes 28 in the blocks 14 as before.

By having a pair of frusto-conical rubber rings 16, 17 (as opposed to using one frusto-conical ring only between the blocks 1 the overall diameter of the assembly for a given vertical deflection may be reduced. Also, the additional shear stress in the rubber due to the air pressure i decreased. If the diameter of :a single rubber ring exceeds a certain value the equivalent piston area of the ring becomes too large for an efficient use of the air pressure. Reducing the air pressure may have advantages in certain directions, but it requires :a greater rceeiver volume to obtain a given stiffness.

Instead of having a single transverse plank as shown in FIG. 2, the pairs of members 18 may be connected by a pair of tubular planks spaced longitudinally of the vehicle with the side bearer assemblies between them. The interior of one tube connects with the air space 26 of one of the side bearer assemblies and the interior of the other tube connects with the air space 26 of the other of the side bearer assemblies. In this way the volume of the air reservoirs may be increased.

A side bearer assembly as described has an improved transverse stability athigh loading compared with a side bearer assembly as described in the main patent with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. This is directly due to the fact that the compression spring block is in two parts in the present construction.

The terms horizontal and vertical are used in this specification assuming the vehicle to be standing on a level track.

The term rubber is to be taken to include rubber-like materials.

I claim:

1. A side bearer assembly for a railway vehicle for supporting the body of the vehicle from a wheel-carrying frame thereof, the assembly comprising a rubber block which, in use of the assembly, acts mainly in compression to support the body from the wheel-carrying frame and which accommodates horizontal movements of the body relatively to the wheel-carrying frame mainly by shear deformation, so that such movements are readily permitted, and a frusto-conical rubber ring which, in use of the assembly, acts in combined shear and compression to support the body from the wheel carrying frame and which permits vertical movement of the body relatively to the wheel carrying frame, said rubber block being formed in two parts and the frusto-conical rubber ring being dispose-d between the two parts of the block with one part supporting the ring and the ring supporting the other part, one of the parts of the rubber block lying at least in part within the frusto-conical rubber ring.

2. A side bearer assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the assembly comprises a pair of said frustoconical rubber rings one of which supports the other, one part of the rubber block supporting said one of the rubber rings and the other rubber ring supporting the other part of the rubber block.

3. A side bearer assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said one part of the rubber block lies at least in part within said one of the rubber rings and said other part of the rubber block lies at least in part within said other of the rubber rings.

4. A side bearer assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the frustoconical rubber rings each in part define a pneumatic chamber of an air suspension system for the vehicle, the pneumatic chamber being formed at least in part between the rings.

5. A railway Vehicle having a side bearer assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the pneumatic chamber is connected with a compressed air source through a central hole in one of the parts of the rubber block.

6. A railway vehicle as claimed in claim 5 wherein the compressed air source is on the body of the vehicle and the pneumatic chamber is connected therewith through a central hole in the upper part of the rubber block.

7. A railway vehicle having a plurality of side bearer assemblies as claimed in claim 4, wherein the assemblies are arranged in pairs spaced apart transversely of the vehicle with the pairs of frusto-conical rings of each pair of assemblies interconnected by a rigid plank structure, the plank structure providing a pair of separate air reservoirs which communicate respectively with pneumatic chambers formed one between each pair of frustoconical rubber rings.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. M. WOHLFORTH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SIDE BEARER ASSEMBLY FOR A RAILWAY VEHICLE FOR SUPPORTING THE BODY OF THE VEHICLE FROM A WHEEL-CARRYING FRAME THEREOF, THE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A RUBBER BLOCK WHICH, IN USE OF THE ASSEMBLY, ACTS MAINLY IN COMPRESSION TO SUPPORT THE BODY FROM THE WHEEL-CARRYING FRAME AND WHICH ACCOMMODATES HORIZONTAL MOVEMENTS OF THE BODY RELATIVELY TO THE WHEEL-CARRYING FRAME MAINLY BY SHEAR DEFORMATION, SO THAT SUCH MOVEMENTS ARE READILY PERMITTED, AND A FRUSTO-CONICAL RUBBER RING WHICH, IN USE OF THE ASSEMBLY, ACTS IN COMBINED SHEAR AND COMPRESSION 